Aerated confections products are popular food items. Some products are fabricated from aerated confection compositions that comprise a fat constituent while others are substantially free of such fat constituents. An illustrative fat free aerated confection is the common marshmallow. Such marshmallow products are familiar in both larger and smaller sizes.
It is well known that such marshmallows when fresh are soft and pliable but will stale by losing moisture and become hard. Indeed, purposefully pre-dried aerated confections are also well known. These products, particularly in smaller or bit sizes, are commonly added to certain popular Ready-To-Eat ("RTE") breakfast cereals, particularly those marketed to children. Due to their small size (i.e., having a number count of 4 to 6/g), these dried aerated confectionery marshmallow products are sometimes colloquially referred to as "Mar." bits or "marbits". The marbits must be pre-dried prior to admixture with the RTE cereal in order to reduce unwanted moisture migration from the marbit to the cereal and thus to forestall the multiple problems resulting therefrom. These dried marshmallow pieces exhibit desirable crisp, frangible eating qualities.
While there are many types of marshmallow products on the market, their methods of preparation generally fall into two main process groups: extruded marshmallow and deposited marshmallow. In both types, a sugar syrup and a structuring agent (such as agar or, preferably a gelatin) are the two main ingredients. Typically, the sugar syrup is heated to reduce moisture and is thereafter cooled down, and then combined with the gelatin solution to form a slurry. That slurry is then aerated to form a foam, and after aeration, colors and flavors are then added to the foam. The particular marshmallow product may be formed into its final shape by an extrusion process. That is, after aeration, the foam is extruded through a die to form a rope. The die imparts the desired peripheral shape to the extrudate rope. The rope is allowed to rest briefly to set, and then is cut into desired sizes. For dried marshmallows, the process can additionally include one or more drying steps. (See, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,551 issued Nov. 2, 1988 to W. J. Meyer entitled "Method of Drying Confection Pieces").
While marshmallows of a single color are most common, marshmallows having two or even a plurality of colors (collectively herein, "multi-colored") are also known (see, for example, D 376,039 issued Dec. 3, 1996 entitled "Food Product" showing a two color marbit design) as well as methods for their preparation. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,380 issued Oct. 20, 1986 entitled "Multicolor Confection Extrusion System and U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,404 issued Feb. 28, 1990 entitled "Multicolor Confection Extrusion System", each of which are incorporated herein by reference). Both the '404 and '380 well describe the difficulties and sensitivities of such foam product preparation. The conventional processes for making multi-colored marshmallows teach to divide the aerated foam into a plurality of sub-streams, to admix a desired colorant to each sub-stream, and then extrude these colored sub-streams in substantially equal portions into a single rope or multiplicity of such ropes.
While multicolored marshmallow pieces have enhanced consumer appeal particularly for children's products, there is a continuing need for new confection products having novel appearance and appeal.
Generally, dried marshmallow pieces soften but do not dissolve upon exposure to cold milk and rapidly loose their desirable crisp and frangible eating qualities. Efforts have been thus been made at extending the bowl life of dried marshmallow pieces in cold milk, i.e., to lessen their propensity to soften in cold milk. Thus, previously, dried marshmallow piece that remained crisp in milk for times exceeding three minutes were considered to be desirable.
In contrast, however, the present invention provides dried marshmallows that dissolve quickly in cold water or milk and to methods of preparing such quick dissolving aerated confection pieces.